It should be no secret that many of my international appraisal assignments come from on-line search engines. While I still get top of front page results on Bing and Yahoo and Yandex (Russian search engine), I’ve slid down to the 4th page on Google, where I am dismayed to find myself ranked below ads placed by trolls – unnamed middlemen who create fanciful web sites with no information about who works there, who’s in charge, and what is their experience? These trolls then call me and other real international appraisers to get us to bid on serving the suckers who got attracted to their fake sites. Trolls. Middlemen.
When they advertise a physical address more questions arise because they may not even be located near an international airport. (At least I live 19 miles from Los Angeles International Airport). One such website brags about its appraisals being done by designated members of The Appraisal Foundation, which does not designate any appraisers; it writes the Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice (USPAP), as well as designations from the Royal Institute [sic] of Chartered Surveyors, when they are really pretending to belong to the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors.
They may have fanciful names such as “Mega World Appraisal
Valuation”, but disclose nothing about their staff, their leadership, and their
assignments. Do not be fooled. Call a
real appraisal firm and find out who will be doing your international
assignment. If you call The International Appraiser, I promise that I will
personally appraise and inspect your properties based on 41 years of appraisal
experience. I have no other staff and
don’t farm out work to contractors, but I do confer with and sometimes hire
appraisers in other countries. I write the reports, though, and make the final
value conclusion.
